A poll released today by the Associated Press and mtvU gives insight on the stress that social networks and text messaging can cause college students.
The two media organizations teamed up to conduct a “technology and mental health poll” of 2,207 undergraduates at 40 colleges, and found a group with many Facebook friends but few they feel comfortable reaching out to in a crisis. For instance, 40 percent say they have at least 500 friends on Facebook but hardly interact with most of them.
About 90 percent of students surveyed said they used Facebook and sent text messages to friends in the previous week. However, not everyone was excited about these modes of communication. About a quarter of them said they would be relieved if they shut off their cellphones and computers, while 57 percent said a social-media blackout would make them more stressed.
And many students said they felt the need to respond immediately to any text. Sixty percent said that if someone failed to respond immediately, they puzzled over why.
Denise Hayes, president of the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors, said she was not surprised by the results. She said reliance on text-based communication can have negative consequences. “If you develop that sense of intimacy over the Internet, it can create a void in one-on-one interaction,” Ms. Hayes said.
She said colleges’ counseling centers should do more to promote students’ personal interaction. One high-tech idea she suggested: A counseling center’s Facebook page could notify the student body of a flash-mob event.
“It is incumbent for mental-health services to catch up, so we can provide students resources and bring them help wherever they are,” she said.
4 Responses to Social Networking Can Bring Students Stress as Well as Connection, Survey Finds
arrive2__net - October 7, 2010 at 10:17 pm
It seems like a group of 500 would be a little too big for comfort. It seems to me that when you have 500 Facebook friends you would become something of an entertainer instead of a friend. Using a flash-mob event to help people develop real world relationships seems a little scary. Has that really been tried, and been successful? Since social media can be time consuming and demanding, its easy to see how it could become an obstacle to real world relationships. At the same time it may help develop certain kinds of communication skills and, maybe, skills at making small-talk. Bernard SchusterArrive2.net
rosescarlet - October 8, 2010 at 9:37 am
When I was in college in the 1970s, a big part of the college experience was walking with friends, talking about class, making plans, or just chit-chatting. It’s so sad to go to campus now and see student after student walking around talking to someone on the phone instead of talking with each other. How can todays student cultivate the lasting friendships one used to expect to make in college if they don’t interact on a personal level?
11328422 - October 8, 2010 at 10:23 am
“In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post-office. You may depend on it, that the poor fellow who walks away with the most letters, proud of his extensive correspondence, has not heard from himself this long while.” (Thoreau)
gabbygretch - October 8, 2010 at 11:14 am
As a recent college graduate, none of these findings surprise me. Social networking is a necesary method of communication, though I’ll admit it can create some stress. However, it is up to the user to find his own personal balance.As for students not interacting on a personal level — I still strongly believe that the traditional “big part of the college experience” is very much alive and well. Social networking enhances the personal experiences I have with both old and new friends. And, now that we cannot all gather on the quad, social networking makes keeping in touch with everyone a reality.